Poppet Craft: How to Make a Magical Yule Tree Fairy

The two little fairies in the photo above will be adorning my Yule tree this festive season. I saw the one on the left in a charity shop earlier this week and was struck by how it was constructed in the same way I make many of my poppets. As I’m sure you know, poppets are little dolls created with magical intent in English folk practices. They can be made for all sorts of purposes, including for protection.

After buying the little charity shop fairy I had a go at making a similar one. You can see my effort on the right. To start with, I cut three paper pattern pieces. 

• A gourd shape for the body
• A pair of wings with a strip in the middle joining them
• A circle for the face (or you could cut an oval) 

Patterns for the body and wings were made by folding some paper down the middle, drawing and cutting out half the shape I wanted against the crease, then unfolding the paper to get even shapes. For the circle, I drew around an egg cup.  

For the fabric, I chose felt – which is what the original was made from too. I used the patterns to cut out two identical body pieces, for the back and front; a pair of wings, and a face. The body pieces were sewn together with blanket stitch, inserting some stuffing before doing the final stitches. I also put a few cloves inside to give my fairy a Christmassy scent as well as to magically offer protection, cleansing, and attract abundance. 

The wings, face and string were stuck on with glue. I drew features with a marker pen and added a few extra adornments from things in my crafting box.

If you want to, you can bring extra enchantment to your Yuletide decorations with this guided visualisation for Winter Solstice Magic: http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2018/12/yule-tree-visualisation-for-winter.html

In-Person Workshop in London this Sunday

On Sunday 1 Dcember I’m running an in-person workshop on Poppets and Magical Dolls with a special look at Yule customs. It will be held at Treadwell’s Bookshop, 33 Store Street, Bloomsbury London, WC1E 7BS. The class starts at 1pm and costs £22 per person. More info and booking here: https://www.treadwells-london.com/events-1/poppets-magical-dolls-and-yuletide-lore-workshop

Books on Poppets and Guided Visualisations

You can find even more information and practical crafting ideas in my Pagan Portals books, which are published by Moon Books. Two of them are:

• Poppets and Magical Dolls 
• Guided Visualisations

My other books are Candle Magic, Scrying, and Rounding the Wheel of the Year as well as my novel Erosion. You can also buy the paperbacks at Treadwell’s Bookshop .

Other Previous Related Posts

http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2024/10/craft-video-make-cloth-poppet-for.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2016/12/winter-solstice-tree-topper-sun-star.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2024/03/poppet-craft-doll-to-do-three-things-at.html

To read more posts like this visit A Bad Witch’s Blog at www.badwitch.co.uk

Source: http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2024/11/poppet-craft-how-to-make-magical-yule.html